The recreational use of flying toys has long been enjoyed by both children and adults and many popular games involve the flying of such devices between two or more players. Often, the distance of the flight is a demonstration of the skill of the players.
The Frisbee flying disc, manufactured by the Wham-O Manufacturing Company and described in U.S. Pat. No. 3,359,678, is an example of a prior art recreational flying device. The Frisbee flying disc is a saucer shaped device suitable for relatively long flights between players. Substantial flight distances are possible because of the total mass, peripheral mass distribution and solid, rigid, construction of the flying disc which contribute to high angular momentum during flight. The Superflight, Inc., Aerobie flying ring, described in U.S. Pat. No. 4,560,358, is another prior art device and is specifically designed for recreational flying over great distances. Like the Frisbee flying disc, the Aerobie flying ring has a relatively high mass distributed around the periphery of the ring for high angular momentum.
While such prior art flying devices are well suited for high angular momentum, long horizontal flights they are poorly suited for flying games played over short distances. In such games, played either by a single player or by multiple players, the object is to maintain slow flight over a small horizontal distance. Such games are often played indoors with the attendant requirement for low velocities and short flights.
In accordance with an illustrated preferred embodiment of the present invention a flying toy includes a low mass, high spring constant, peripheral tension ring, a coaxial lightweight flight surface, and an inner ring. The flight surface, in tension between the peripheral and inner rings, provides an airfoil and the peripheral ring provides a non-rigid, deformable and resilient periphery. Due to its low mass the flying toy has a low angular momentum during flight and a player may easily prolong flight by repeatedly striking the flying toy in the direction of rotation. Because of the resiliency of the peripheral ring, the player's strikes restore rotational velocity and prolong flight without imparting appreciable horizontal momentum. Thus, the flying toy is well suited for single player maintainable flight and, because of its resiliency and light weight, is also suitable for indoor use. In addition, the deformability of the tension ring allows the toy to be folded in a twisting manner for ease of storage or transport in a minimum of space.
In accordance with another illustrated preferred embodiment of the present invention a flying toy well suited for use by a single player includes deflectable blades radially positioned about a central hub. During use, the player may catch the bladed flying toy within the hub and may then push the toy vertically to cause rotation in a predetermined direction. Upon release, the toy first floats upwards and then begins to float downward thereby causing the direction of air flow through the toy to reverse. Since the blades are deflectable, not fixed, the air flow reversal causes the blades to reverse and the new blade deflection causes the toy to continue rotating in the same direction. The toy then falls slowly in the manner of an autogyro and is easily caught and thrown again by the single player.